"No." I said quickly.

She pressed her lips together and shook her head.

"Your face might as well be made of glass," she said. "You can't hide much." An idea occurred to her. "He didn't mention that attic by any chance?"

"No. He didn't say anything about this house or anyone in it. I swear," I said. "He never knew much about Great-aunt Frances either and he was never here, and he doesn't know I'm here. No one has told him about me, and my letters were never sent to him."

"Maybe." She smiled. "Anyway, we sure got ourselves one sweet hangout, Hideaway Hotel. I feel so good about it all, I think I'll do some homework to make my teachers happy. You finish all yours?"

"I have a little more to do." I said.

"Well, let's get to work," she said. "If we both do poorly, my granddad will have an excuse to make me leave." she added and went for her books.

She sprawled over the bed to read and do problems. and I continued at my small desk. That was the way Great-aunt Frances found the two of us a little while later.

"How wonderful,'" she said. "The two of you working so hard on your schoolwork and helping each other. If Emma had helped me, I might not have had so much trouble graduating."

"Did you?" Alanis asked her.

"Graduate? Yes, but my daddy had something to do with it," she said with a short laugh. "That's all right. No one expected me to go to college anyway."

"What you do after you left high school?"

"I worked for my father for a while."

"You never met anyone you wanted to marry or who wanted to marry you?" Alanis pursued.

I held my breath, waiting. These were questions I always wanted to ask.

Great-aunt Frances tilted her head and smiled.

"There was someone once. His name was Alex Foster and he worked for his father. too. His father had an export-import business. They were very wealthy people. Very snobby people. too. Alex was very handsome and he was head over heels in love with me, but his mother and father wanted him to marry someone else, someone wealthier. He was very upset about it. They wouldn't stop hounding him until._ until one day he took his own life. Ever since then... oh, why did you ask me?" she cried, pressing her hand over her heart. "I don't like remembering sadness. remember? Besides, don't think about me. Think about yourselves and your wonderful futures. I'm an old lady now. Sweet dreams, girls." she said, smiling, changing expression as fast as she could change the channel on a television set.

She walked away.

"Jeez," Alanis said. "I don't believe it."

"Maybe it's true. She never married anyone," I said.

"No, it's not true."

"How do you knnow?" I asked angrily. She was too positive about everything she thought, and it was beginning to upset me.

"I know because that was the movie we were just watching." she said.

"It was?"

"Yes, it was. You would think she would remember I was sitting there with her watching it. She is bonkers. I wonder if she was always this way."

She thought a moment and then looked at me hard. "Your family's rich and stuff. but you sure have nut-cases in it... your great-aunt, your brother, and from what you've told me, your grandmother ain't all there either. Your father sounds weird. too. You can inherit being nuts, you know."

I felt the tears coming to my eyes.

"No, you can't. Ian would have told me."

"Yeah, right. Ian. Don't worry about it," she said quickly. "I'll let you know if you do anything crazy or you're about to. I'm here to be your best friend. remember?"

I nodded. but I still didn't like what she had said. I tried to finish my school assignments, but the words became hazy on the page. I rushed to end it and then I got myself ready for bed. Alanis went downstairs when I was in the bathroom. I was already in my pajamas and in bed when she returned.

Tags: V.C. Andrews Early Spring Horror
Source: readsnovelonline.net